Yesterday Via his instagram , Patriots Tight End Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement from the NFL.
The University of Arizona product ends his career after 9 seasons with the Patriots. He managed to put together a career that for the next four years will have people asking if he is a first ballot Hall of Famer. If he does go to Canton on the first ballot, he would join Gale Sayers and Jim Brown as the only players to not play in their thirties and make it on their first ballot.
The 29 year old will retire with a resume that reflects a career worthy of praise. He played 115 games, made 521 receptions, racked up 7,861 yards and caught 79 touchdowns.
The second round draft pick played in 16 postseason games in which he had 81 receptions, for 1,163 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Something to keep in mind, is that Gronk put up these regular season numbers while only playing 2 full seasons. He missed a total of 36 regular season games which is 2 and a quarter seasons.
Gronk’s sophomore season seems to be his most impressive. He played 16 games and caught 90 passes for 1,327 yards and 17 touchdowns.
While putting up such great numbers as a receiving tight end, Gronk was a great blocker as well. He was a true Patriot player in the way that he helped the Patriots’ running game by shutting down some of the league's best defenders.
Some of his most notable records include:
Most receptions by a Tight End in Super Bowl history: 23
Only Tight End to lead the league in receiving touchdowns
Only Tight End in history to have 1,000 postseason receiving yards
Most Touchdowns by a Tight End in a season: 18
Most career Postseason touchdowns by a Tight End: 12
Most offensive touchdowns in first two years (Tied with Randy Moss)
He is also tied with two other greatest tight ends Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten for most consecutive seasons with 1,000 receiving yards by a Tight End (4 consecutive seasons)
Holding the records he does and tieing with the likes of Moss, Witten and Gonzalez, makes a strong case for Gronk getting into the Hall of Fame.
Stats from nfl.com records from Sports Illustrated
